Defense contracts expected to dominate India-Russia talks

From staff and wire reports

NEW DELHI, India -- As India emerges as a major force in Asia, its spending billions more on defense. This year alone, its defense budget increased 28 percent.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in India for a three-day state visit. For both sides, the visit is an opportunity to breathe life into a trading partnership.

Both sides are expected to sign a dozen agreements, the most prominent among which will be the announcement of a strategic partnership.

Currently the Indian army -- the third largest in the world -- buys 70 percent of its weapons from Moscow, making defense a cornerstone of India-Russian ties.

While many countries imposed economic sanctions after India exploded several underground nuclear devices in 1998, a cash-strapped Russia stood by India.

"It is Russia that has stood by India in every military or other major political situation we have faced," said George Fernandes, India's defense minister. After China, India is the largest buyer of military equipment from Moscow. Some analysts say Indian purchases keep dozens of Russian defense factories afloat in a country saddled with a US$160 billion external debt.

But now some Indians are pressing their government to look for other arms suppliers.

"The Indian air force has the highest accident rate in the world is because the Russian spares are very hard to come by," said Rahul Bedi, of Jane's Defence Weekly.

The recent accident of the Russian nuclear submarine, the Kursk, ignited a debate in India about the safety of Russian technology.

Still India's defense minister says his country will continue buying from Russia.

"If one were to decide as to where to get one's weaponry from depending upon how many accidents or how many failures while testing one had then one would never be able to buy from anybody," Fernandes said.

During President Putin's visit, India is expected to buy 140 MiG-29 K fighter planes and ask for a license to manufacture hundreds more in India.

Contracts are also likely to be signed for an aircraft carrier and 360 T-90 battle tanks.

All this equipment is worth more than US$3 billion, but India says compared to other suppliers like Britain and France, hardware from Russia is still the cheapest.

Few analysts expect the strategic agreement to be signed by the two nations to be far-reaching.

The Indian government is facing pressure to consider purchasing military equipment from other countries after several Russian planes crashed

Such a partnership, when mooted in 1998 during a visit by then Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, envisaged non-participation in alliances against each other or in treaties and agreements, which infringe upon the sovereignty of each other.

Both India and Russia are wrestling with armed Islamic separatism, one in Kashmir and the other in Chechnya, and both are concerned about the radical Islamic agenda of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement.

During the Soviet era Moscow and New Delhi had a largely patron-client defense supply relationship, and now India owes Russia huge debts incurred in buying warplanes, arms and steel.

To settle the debt, which now stands at around $4.34 billion, India transfers 30 billion rupees (US$651 million) a year to a Russian account held with the central Reserve Bank of India.

CNN New Delhi Bureau Chief Satinder Bindra and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Indian Prime Minister's Office
Press Trust of India
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